BajaNomad - Baja from the nose

Baja from the nose

DENNIS - 11-4-2007 at 06:04 PM

OK Nomaditos y itas. Baja Spirit was meaningful and fun. Thank all of you for shareing your thoughts.

We have a new one here........THE AROMAS OF MEXICO.

What do you perceive through your nose that, with your eyes closed, takes you to Mexico?
Is it chili?
Is it diesel exhaust?
Is it flowers?

What is it that you smell and then say, "This is Baja, this is Mexico."

Diver - 11-4-2007 at 06:10 PM

I have told this one before;

I was home in Washington, out touring a construction site when a smell brought me back to pleasant times in La Ventana.....so pleasant and such nice memories but I couldn't quite place the smell.

When I looked further, it was on open septic pipe.

.

Osprey - 11-4-2007 at 06:16 PM

albahaca

Paulina - 11-4-2007 at 06:21 PM

What we smell...Hmmmm. Unfortunately the bad smells of baja are far more numerous than the good smells...

Burning plastic, buring tires, Cat Box Town, Diesel fuel.

Those are the first things that come to mind.

Secondly, Mothballs, (because I load my closets with them and it's the first smell that greets me when I open the doors), burning creosote, something about the border at San Ysidro...then there's Herman's Old Spice.

I'm sure that I'll think of a lot more now that you've asked a question worth thinking about.....

ja ja jaP>*)))><

[Edited on 5-11-2007 by Paulina]

Dave - 11-4-2007 at 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS
What do you perceive through your nose that, with your eyes closed, takes you to Mexico?

Diver - 11-4-2007 at 06:33 PM

Dave, Dave, Dave..... is that where the deli went ?? :rolleyes:

DENNIS - 11-4-2007 at 06:45 PM

NO NO NO....... You reprobates don't get it. What I'm looking for is the instantaneous recollection of Mexico when you're in Bum*** Illinois and you're wafted to the wall by an aroma that, in a deja freakin vu type of way, says, " That just took me back to Baja, '97."

OK....It's a lost thought.

Dave.....What does that pile of Comet mean?

landyacht318 - 11-4-2007 at 06:51 PM

Certain types of smoke always remind me of my campfire smoke baths in baja.

Ground cumin.

DENNIS - 11-4-2007 at 06:56 PM

Good one, yachty......

I'll throw a little of that stuff on my next fire. I'm building a house so, after I get it insured, I may be thinking of your fine suggestion.

toneart - 11-4-2007 at 06:58 PM

Along the river and on the beaches in Mulege there is a slight salt water/fish smell which I think is pleasant. Of course, when everything was flooded there was a funky wet mud smell, but that didn't turn into mold and it didn't last too long. Fresh paint was the second most predominant smell...after the clean up. In town, there is the smell of cooking food wafting out of the many great restaurants. In the shops there is the clean smell of cotton and wool. Out in the desert the smell I recall is clean, hot, fresh air. I think that is more a feeling in the lungs than an actual smell. It makes me smile. :yes:

DENNIS - 11-4-2007 at 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey
albahaca

Of course. Goes without saying.

fdt - 11-4-2007 at 07:00 PM

Dennis, I don't think it's comet that Dave posted, but you did ask :
Is it flowers?
And it looks to me like flowers for tortillas :light:

DENNIS - 11-4-2007 at 07:06 PM

Harina para nariz, por seguro.

Paula - 11-4-2007 at 07:07 PM

There is something in the laundry soap in Mexico that isn't in the American stuff. If I pull something out to wear in Montana that was washed months before in Mexico I'm right back there.

One of my daughters can smell it too.

Paulina - 11-4-2007 at 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paula
There is something in the laundry soap in Mexico that isn't in the American stuff. If I pull something out to wear in Montana that was washed months before in Mexico I'm right back there.

One of my daughters can smell it too.

Suavitel

P<*)))><

805gregg - 11-4-2007 at 07:19 PM

Burning trash mixed with the smell of gas engines with worn rigs burning too much oil.

DENNIS - 11-4-2007 at 07:20 PM

I don't know exactly what it is but, years ago I would stay at the California Motel on the north end of Ensenada. The nights were full of the pungent air of shoreline, much like I remember as a kid in Balboa. The nights gave up the aroma of the sea. When I pass by there today, I still smell this. It brings back so many memories.

Mango - 11-4-2007 at 07:26 PM

Paulina got mine earlier.... Burning plastic. Although I smell it much more on the mainland.

I'll never forget the first time heading into Mexico City on a bus when a passenger sitting on the stairs and was smoking cigarettes with the driver (right next to the no smoking sign) as we passed though a smoke plume from some burning tires.... lovely.

Baja; is usually nice and fresh.. with some salt air thrown in for good measure.

Paulina - 11-4-2007 at 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS
NO NO NO....... You reprobates don't get it. What I'm looking for is the instantaneous recollection of Mexico when you're in Bum*** Illinois and you're wafted to the wall by an aroma that, in a deja freakin vu type of way, says, " That just took me back to Baja, '97."

...

Excuse me, but I don't believe that my soul is predestined to damnation because I didn't read your fine print. What smell "takes me to" baja from BFE?

Allow me to rephrase my answer with more formality;

Mesquite wood in our bbq
The smell of diesel when I fill up my truck
Cat boxes
Moth balls
Suavitel
tequila
the car in front of us on the freeway that is blowing out billows of smoke
A fresh oyster

As I said before, I might think of something else, so watch out.

P<*)))><

Roberto - 11-4-2007 at 07:48 PM

I won't weigh in on this but, both my kids identify Mexico with the "stinky smells" that are so immediately evident when you cross the border in TJ. Truly a "smell frontier" - the difference is most apparent at the border. Just like the difference in the road when you cross going north - all of a sudden, the noises the truck makes going down the road decrease 300%.

While I don't agree, I must say that I see their point. One can read and extend that perception quite far - maybe for another post.

[Edited on 11-5-2007 by Roberto]

DENNIS - 11-4-2007 at 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paulina
Excuse me, P<*)))><

Don't be upset. Wasn't refering to you, you should know that. It's all fun. May not smell like it but, it is.

Oso - 11-4-2007 at 08:10 PM

Dead animals left in the road? Fresh tortillas on the comal? Whatever it is, pleasant or not so much so, it is recognizable as Mexico and instantly triggers a thousand memories.

Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) once described white peoples' houses as smelling like lettuce.

DENNIS - 11-4-2007 at 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Oso
(Redd Foxx)

Who else could make racism PC?

gringorio - 11-4-2007 at 08:36 PM

the smell of burning rubber. the smell of poorly tuned motors, the smell of a taco stand, the smell of the Sea the sand ...strangely all make me feel at home... ... ... ...

:bounce:

Diver - 11-4-2007 at 08:44 PM

The north-most outhouse at El Requeson is used for an RV dump and is unique. :wow:

Paulina - 11-4-2007 at 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

Quote:

Originally posted by Oso
(Redd Foxx)

Who else could make racism PC?

What about Archie Bunker aka Carroll O' Connor?

P<*)))><

DENNIS - 11-4-2007 at 09:40 PM

George Jefferson?

Paulina - 11-4-2007 at 09:42 PM

It must have been a 1970's thing. Glad we don't have to live in that era anymore.

P<**)))><

DENNIS - 11-4-2007 at 09:51 PM

Al Sharpton?

DENNIS - 11-4-2007 at 09:52 PM

Jesse Jackson?

Paulina - 11-4-2007 at 10:22 PM

I'm not going there. That's more for the off topic board.

DENNIS - 11-4-2007 at 10:24 PM

G'nite...........

This is a great topic

rogerj1 - 11-4-2007 at 11:34 PM

The smell I associate lately is the smell of the laundry detergent. I started noticing it on Mexicanos that live up here. I like the smell though it may be too sweet to smell all the time.

Gnome-ad - 11-4-2007 at 11:37 PM

I started to post here when there were no comments yet and then one year old grand daughter highlighted and deleted whole post and started typing in greek symbols - truth! Don't know how she did it. Had a terrible time getting back here, I'm on her dad's old laptop.

The smell I notice, but have not smelled anywhere else, is a particular dusty, musty smell. First smelled it in San Jose del Cabo in back of Sr. Manana's where the estuary is, then in El Triumfo (sp?) as we walked along the street. Next in Mulege down by the river and finally in Todos Sanatos down Topete where there's always water and dust. There are many smells in Mexico that I have expereinced one time or another somewhere else, but this one has been unique to Baja California Sur - my new home.

lizard lips - 11-5-2007 at 12:01 AM

Mesquite wood burning. You can smell it just after that nice aroma of raw sewage close to San Antonio Del Mar draining into the Pacific Ocean.

bajadock - 11-5-2007 at 07:48 AM

The first Bohemia cerveza bottle cap removed for the evening accompanied by the salt sea air...is it 5 o'clock yet?

DENNIS - 11-5-2007 at 08:44 AM

Yeah Doc.....It's always 5 o'clock.

Nice to hear from you. Where've you been?

Martyman - 11-5-2007 at 11:00 AM

I'm transported when a taco truck drives by. Tres tacos please!

Get yourself one of these....

bajamigo - 11-5-2007 at 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS
Yeah Doc.....It's always 5 o'clock.

Nice to hear from you. Where've you been?

Ospery, Please Expand

Gypsy Jan - 11-5-2007 at 05:58 PM

on your comment about basil.

Al G - 11-5-2007 at 06:12 PM

I believe the original question was "what smells in Norte Americano that take you back to Baja...if this is correct it seems to be a tough one to respond to.
I can think of nothing...Baja is to unique.
I have a little Baja soap....I think I need a fix... :biggrin:

Al G - 11-5-2007 at 06:18 PM

Darn it...I left the bag open...only a little fix. :lol:

Foca may not last long....

DENNIS - 11-5-2007 at 06:35 PM

That's allright, Al. We'll leave that one alone.

David K - 11-5-2007 at 06:42 PM

cilantro... on carne asada... yummmm!!!

jeans - 11-5-2007 at 07:28 PM

Many years ago when I lived in Wyoming we moved to an old farm house where we had to burn our trash. It had been a long time since I had been in Mexico and it was the furthest thing from my mind.
The first time I got a face-full of trash smoke, I though I had been smothered with Eau D'Tijuana.

Instant transport.

Skipjack Joe - 11-5-2007 at 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS
I don't know exactly what it is but, years ago I would stay at the California Motel on the north end of Ensenada. The nights were full of the pungent air of shoreline, much like I remember as a kid in Balboa. The nights gave up the aroma of the sea. When I pass by there today, I still smell this. It brings back so many memories.

I must have stayed at that same motel. It was at the base of some cliffs cause dad and I would walk along the top and I remember the smell also.

It was the smell of rotting kelp. Marine biologists call it the wrack. It's actually quite pleasant to my way of thinking.

DENNIS - 11-5-2007 at 07:57 PM

Probably the same place. Right on the edge of thirty foot cliffs.
"Wrack?" I'll remember that. Thanks.

bajadock - 9-23-2019 at 05:01 PM

Happy Birthday DENNIS, we miss you. It's 5PM, so cheers your way. What have you been up to???

David K - 9-23-2019 at 05:24 PM

Nice tribute post from 2007! :light:

BajaTed - 9-24-2019 at 09:13 AM

For a lot of my Vietnam veteran friends the smell of burning diesel fuel and sh*t takes them back in country in not a good way.
Smell is a big time PTSD trigger.

You want major stink, go to India and stand by the lower Ganges River.
Everyone in Turkey smells like tobacco too.

Marc - 9-24-2019 at 11:08 AM

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Nice tribute post from 2007! :light:

Yes indeed :saint:

Paulina - 9-24-2019 at 07:14 PM

Happy birthday Dennis. We miss you, kid.
Reading this thread brought back others, Oso for one, that I miss too.

P>*)))>{

bajaric - 10-2-2019 at 01:37 PM

Some Baja smells have no equivalent. Driving past El Suazal always had a unique fragrance, some disliked it but I always took a deep breath of the briny and loved it --

defrag4 - 10-7-2019 at 09:44 AM

after years of traveling latin america, the smell of burning plastic/trash is a nostalgic smell for me

[Edited on 10-7-2019 by defrag4]

defrag4 - 10-7-2019 at 09:48 AM

i also like the smell of cocaine